Valentine
by See Jane Write
Summary: A serial rapist captures Casey.
1. Chapter 1

Valentine

Summary: A serial rapist captures Casey.

* * *

February 7, 2006

8:16 A.M.

He saw her. His car was parked at the side of the District Attorney's office. He had seen several of them rush inside. They were tardy. Normally, the rush is a little earlier. However, the one ADA he wanted had not showed up yet. She was not due for another sixty seconds. Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven, fifty-six, fifty-five.

There she was. Casey Novak. He spotted her. She was taller than the woman she was walking with. The other woman looked older. He had seen her before, too. She was a police officer for the Special Victims Unit. He had come so close to crossing paths with her on numerous occasions, but he knew to avoid her. He should avoid her partner, too. Her partner has anger problems.

Casey was wearing a nice suit today. She must be going to court. Otherwise, she would be in a nice shirt and a pair of dress slacks. But today she was in a dress suit. A red and gray patterned skirt that came to her knees, a large white winter coat that made her seem fat. He did not like that. His Casey should not look so fat.

The detective's cell phone rang. She gave Casey a wave good-bye before walking in the opposite direction. He could make his move now. If it were not for the other assistant district attorneys rushing inside, he would. But he would just have to wait. He's waited long and hard for this opportunity. Valentine's Day was only a week away. If his plan was going to work, he would need her. He needed Casey soon.

Soon, but not this instant. He watched as Casey continued walking towards the office. She was in heels. She almost tripped, but she regained her composure and kept walking. Of course she would not let the little things cause her to fall. She was better than that. It made her even more precious.

She disappeared into the office building. The door closed behind her. He could no longer see her. He did not know what was beyond that door. He hoped he never would. Now came the waiting. He hated the waiting, but since a glimpse of Casey came at the end of it, he would endure it.

* * *

He waited hours for her to come out. She never did. Something must have happened to the court. Otherwise, she would have left. It was almost nine at night. None of her police friends stopped by her office. It was odd. Usually on her filing days, she wore almost casual clothes to work. Some jeans and a nice blouse maybe. Something definitely delayed her court appearance.

Finally she emerged from the door. Eight fifty-two. It had been over twelve hours since she had arrived. Now she was leaving. He started his ignition and followed her with his eyes until she rounded the corner. He then slowly started his car and followed her. However, he remained far enough behind so that she would think nothing of it.

She had a car. Interesting. Well, it was getting too cold for her to ride a bike everywhere. She started her car and started backing out of her parking space. Then she saw him. He gave her a friendly smile and motioned for her to keep going. He would wait. He had to. He followed her onto the highway. He refused to let any other car get in the middle of them. He followed her to a grocery store. As he saw her parking, he drove away and rounded the corner. The alley between the grocery store was not the biggest, but he was not complaining. His car could successfully fit into it. That was all that he asked. He got out, left the doors unlocked, and walked so that he could see around that corner. All he would have to do was wait a little bit longer.

Every couple of minutes, he would glance back at his car. No one else even noticed him. It was pretty quiet. Hardly any people were on the streets. Well, it was a Tuesday. Apparently, some good shows are on Tuesdays. He did not care. If it would bring him to Casey, he did not care.

Twelve minutes later, Casey was out of the store. She had a bag of groceries in her hand. A half-gallon of milk, a box of cereal of some sort, and something else. It looked like a magazine of some kind. He smiled and walked out from his hidden position.

"Woah, you look tired," he said as he approached Casey. "I can carry those to your car, if you want."

Casey shook her head as she clung to her bag. "No, I've got it," she said firmly.

"Sorry," he said. "I was trying to do you a favor. It's the whole 'I-scratch-your-back, you-scratch-mine," he continued.

Casey rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"

"It's not me that needs help," he said. "It's my car. I don't know what's wrong with it."

Casey raised an eyebrow at him as she fished in her pocket for her keys. "I suggest you call a tow-truck or a car service shop," she said. She then frowned. He seemed nice. She should be able to trust him. But then again, she deals with rapists all day long. If there was one thing she learned in her job, it was never to trust anyone.

"Yeah, right," he said. "I would except my cell phone died."

"Pay-phone's right around the corner," Casey stated. Her fingers were on her keys. As soon as this guy backed up, she would take them out of her pocket.

"I'm sorry, where?" he asked, confused.

Casey removed her hand. She had not grabbed her keys. She started to point at the corner before he startled her. He grabbed her arm tightly. His grip was freakishly strong. In her attempt to break free, she dropped her bag of groceries. He grabbed hold of her other arm. She tried to break free, but he kept his hold on her tight.

"Don't fret, Casey," he whispered as he dragged her towards the alley. "You'll be safe with me."

Casey tried to kick at him. Her legs could reach his crotch, but she was not in a good position to kick him hard enough to let her go. She tried biting, but that was not going to work either. His arms moved down towards her waist. He strengthened his grip. She struggled harder.

They were back in the alley now. Completely out of sight. Casey realized that she was not going top be able to break free by force alone. She tried screaming. He threw her to the ground. One foot went to her right shoulder. "Shut up," he commanded as he applied more pressure to her shoulder.

He leaned down and yanked her up by her wrists. She screamed again, but he did not care. He threw her up against his car. She hit her head on its roof. He then punched her to ensure that she would remain unconscious. He shoved her into his car and drove off. As he rounded the corner, he looked at the grocery store. There were no people in front of it. The store owner was in the window looking around, but it was obvious that he had not seen anything.

He laughed.

Perfect.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

February 8, 2006

9: 21 A.M.

"Where are we on that missing boy case?" Cragen called from the doorway between his office and the SVU squad room. His desk phone was held tightly in his right hand. It rested on his shoulder.

Elliot Stabler stood up from his desk. "We've got a perp in mind," he stated. "If we can get Novak to get a search warrant, we'll know for sure."

Cragen smiled. "Call her up." With that, he retreated back to his office and resumed his telephone call. The door closed behind him.

Olivia Benson knew what she had to do. She grabbed the phone on her desk and dialed Casey's number. It rang once on the other line. Twice. Olivia frowned as she heard it ring a third time. And a fourth. After the fifth, it went to Casey's voicemail. "El, she's not answering," she informed her partner as the message began playing. "Should I leave her a message?"

Elliot shrugged. "Hang up and call her again. If she still doesn't answer, leave a message," he instructed.

"You actually do that?" Fin asked.

"It was my code with the kids when they were younger. If Kathy and I had to leave them home alone, we'd call. They didn't answer, and we'd call them again. That way, they knew it was us," Elliot explained.

"But Casey's not your daughter," Fin pointed out. "At least I hope not."

Olivia interrupted their conversation. "She's still not answering," she stated. Her voice hinted at fear, but also a little annoyance. "I tried her cell, too."

"Maybe she has caller ID," Munch teased.

"Watch it," Olivia warned through gritted teeth. She returned her focus to Elliot. "I'm going to run up by her office. Maybe she just pulled an all-nighter and is sleeping it off now."

"Ok," Elliot said as he watched her leave in a rush. He turned back to the case file. "Does anyone else look good for this, just in case we can't get the warrant?"

Fin grabbed the file and sat down on Olivia's desk. "The neighbor's the best guess. That or the basketball coach, but his alibi's solid so far. My money's on the neighbor."

Munch nodded. "Hey, while Liv's running up to see Lawyer Girl, is there anything else we need?" he asked.

Elliot shook his head. "Nothing's coming to mind. At least, nothing from any of my cases."

The phone on his desk began ringing. "Hold that thought," Elliot said as he picked up the receiver. "Special Victims Unit. Stabler," he answered. He snapped his fingers at Fin and Munch as a signal that he needed a pen and a piece of paper. Munch handed him a pen from his pocket while Fin searched Olivia's desk for some scrap paper. "Ok," Elliot said as he started writing. "Ok, thank you." He hung up.

"What was that?" Munch asked curiously.

Elliot still could not fully believe it. He did not know why. He did not know how. He just knew the facts. "That was Hernandaz, from the 2-5," he started. "They found Casey's car parked outside a grocery store. It's been there all night. Next to it was a bag of dropped groceries. CSU's trying to secure what they can."

"Where?" Fin asked. Like Elliot, he did not really know what to think. Seeing what he does all day, he immediately assumed the worst. But he remembered that they were talking about Casey. She was going to be ok. She had to be.

Elliot handed him the sheet of paper. "Tell Cragen, and let's go. Call Liv on the way."

* * *

Pain was the first thing Casey noticed when she awoke. Pain was all over her body. It was mainly in her head. Then she looked at her surroundings. Dark. Cold. Where was she, exactly? How did she get there? She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and took a closer look. There were not any windows, so she was most likely in a basement. There was a staircase leading up, but she suspected the door at the top of it was locked. She was trapped inside.

She looked around at the rest of the basement. It was old, dusty. There was hardly anything in it already. How could she be expected to survive in these conditions? Was she going to get out of it alive?

Yes. She was determined. It might take her a day, but she would get out of there. She had to. She shivered. Why was it so cold in there? Where was her coat? She glanced down at what she was wearing. Her shoes were gone, as was her coat. She still had her skirt and her gray shirt that went with it. Aside from her pantyhose, that was it. She shivered again. It was really cold in that basement.

She looked around and saw a couch. She walked over and curled into a ball on it. She tried to ignore the grumbling in her stomach. She tried to coax herself back to sleep. It was not working. She did not know where she was or how she got there. She was cold, hungry. She needed to get out.

Her head hurt too much to devise a clever way out. She did not have her coat, which meant she did not have her cell phone. Of course not. That would have made it too easy to escape. She pulled her legs closer to her chest and began humming softly. She stayed like that until she fell back asleep.

* * *

"What happened?" Olivia asked as she joined Munch and Elliot outside the grocery store. She rushed over there as soon as Elliot called her. By this point, she was worried. She was really worried. "What do we have?"

"Fin's back at the station," Elliot informed her. "We've halted all her credit cards. No one's used her cell since yesterday morning. If someone tries to, we'll have the call routed to the station."

One of CSU investigators walked up to Olivia and Elliot. "There's no sign that someone tried to break into her car. Fortunately, we have not been able to find any traces of blood around either." He turned to Elliot. "Like we said on the phone, there was a bag of dropped groceries next to the front wheel on the driver's side. That's all we can seem to find."

"What-what was in the bag?" Olivia asked curiously. She had to know. If she knew, she could tell if the bag was Casey's or if it was just coincidence that it was there. She doubted it was a coincidence, but she had to know for sure.

"A small box of Cheerios, half a gallon of skim milk, and a TV Guide," the CSU investigator responded. "It is hers, right?"

Olivia nodded. "Without a doubt. She'll only eat healthy cereal, she wanted a copy of when NBC was airing which part of the Winter Olympics, and, although she weighs like three pounds, she only drinks skim milk."

Elliot put his arm around Olivia's shoulders. He did not say anything to her, but the gesture was enough to soothe her enough to finish gathering whatever evidence they could.

"Ok, you guys get what you can from here," Munch said. "I'm going to see what I can find out from the owner." He walked inside and up to the cash register. His actions pissed off the people standing in line, but they did not say anything once they caught sight of his badge. "Where's the owner?" Munch asked the cashier.

The other cashier walked over to Munch. "That would be me," he stated. "What's this about?"

Munch frowned at him and flashed his badge. "Were you working last night?" he asked.

The owner, a past-middle age Hispanic man, nodded. "I work here all the time. What's it to you?"

Munch pulled him out from behind the counter. The owner dutifully followed. "This is about a young woman who was most likely kidnapped in front of this store just after she picked up a few things." He paused. "Oh, and she happens to be an assistant district attorney and one of my close friends, so this is personal. Where are your security tapes?"

"My what?" the owner asked, perplexed.

"Sec-ur-i-ty tapes," Munch stated at a very slow pace. "Y'know, from the camera up there," he continued with a gesture at the camera that pointed outside the store at the food on display. Munch could not tell for sure, but he was pretty certain that its view stretched to the sidewalk and the fronts of the parking spaces.

"Oh, those cameras are broken," the owner stated. "Been that way for years. We just keep them up there for scare value."

Anger boiled in Munch's body, but he forced himself to remain civil enough to have a conversation. "Then that comes to you. Did you hear anything last night after eight?"

The owner shrugged. "I don't think so." He paused. "Well, I thought I heard screaming, but when I got to the window, no one was there. I figured it must have come from the television in the bar next door. The volume gets kinda loud in there at night, you know."

Munch groaned as he walked away. "We're not done with you," he stated. "We'll be back with flyers that you will have hanging in your windows. Are we clear?"

The owner nodded. "Perfectly."

* * *

Darkness fell over the room before Casey got a look at her attacker. During the day, there was light from the door at the top of the stairs shining through the cracks. Casey was right. It was locked. However, now there was no more light. She did not know what time it was. During her time down, she remembered bits and pieces of how she got there. The man who did this was strong. She feared what he was going to, what he already did that she could not remember yet. She was shivering again, though now it was not due to the cold.

Finally the door opened. It opened with a kick, so even if she had been up at the top of the stairs ready to bolt out, she would have instantly fell backwards. The man, whoever he was, came down the stairs. "Precious, where are you?" he bellowed. He walked back up the stairs and turned the lights on.

Casey winced from the contrast. She heard his footsteps on the stairs again. She caught sight of his boots. They were heavy. Dried up mud covered them. Next she saw his dark jeans. Then his plaid red and white shirt. Finally, she saw his face. She knew she had seen it before. She did not know where. He had something in his hands. "Thought you might be thirsty, kitten," he stated as he handed her a clear bottle.

The label had been ripped off, Casey immediately noticed. She took it, but she realized that it opened too easily for her liking. She put it down on the floor.

"Oh, come on, kitten," he told her as he grabbed her by the waist and sat her down in his lap. "You need to keep up your energy. You have to get ready for the main event." With that, he laughed and tilted her head backwards.

His grip was really strong. As much as she wanted to break free, Casey was afraid that doing such would snap her neck. With his legs over hers, she could not exactly kick him. He began pouring the contents of the bottle down her throat. It tasted like water, but she doubted that was all it was.

He just laughed loudly.

* * *

The headline of the New York Ledger the next morning read: SVU ADA Kidnapped. Police need help. 


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I'm sorry for the delay. I had a bit of writer's block and trouble figuring out how to say what I wanted to. Anyway, read and review. I'll try to get the next one up as soon as I can.

* * *

Chapter Three 

February 15, 2006

8: 17 A.M.

Cragen angrily slammed the New York Ledger down on Olivia's desk. "How the hell did the press get a hold of this?" he demanded. Casey's case was high on his priority list, but cases where the media was breathing down his back made it that much more difficult to resolve. He was very concerned about her, but he was afraid of what all the media attention would do to her. Would it cause the man to kill her if (God forbid) he had not already?

No one knew what to say. They did not tell anyone about it. They knew better. They stood there in silence for a moment before Olivia ended it.

"Look, the press already knows," she reminded everyone. "It's a pain in the ass, but it could be helpful. The press knows, so they'll be searching for answers and breathing down our backs until they get some," she continued. "Now, I would like to ensure that Casey will return safely, so stop this pissy fit and let's get out there."

Cragen nodded at her. "Liv's right. Liv, I want you and Elliot to revisit the crime scene. Try and see how this might have happened, get possible witnesses, see if CSU turned up any new evidence, whatever." He turned over to Fin and Munch. "I want you two to go talk to Huang. See if we can get a profile on our kidnapper."

The car ride over to the crime scene was silent. Olivia was still too angry to even think of what was going on. She did not know where her friend was, or if she was even alive. This was personal. She could not think of anyone who would do this. Was it just a random attack? Was it someone she prosecuted getting revenge? Was it the family member of someone she convicted getting revenge? She had no way to be certain, and that was what bothered her the most.

The crime scene tape was already removed from the grocery store. There was not even enough evidence to prove that a crime had occurred there. What little evidence they did have was circumstantial at best. Anyone could have dropped it. Not that it was likely, but there could be another reason for why Casey's car was still in front of it.

"I just don't understand it, Elliot," Olivia said as she exited the car. She slammed the door shut behind her as she walked over towards the sidewalk between the parking spaces and the store. "How could someone distract her, grab her, and kidnap her without anyone else noticing? There had to be people on the streets. Where are they?"

"Watching _American Idol_," Elliot muttered. "Yet another reason why reality television is dangerous."

Olivia slapped Elliot's chest hard. "I'm serious, Elliot. This isn't just a victim. This is Casey."

"I'm serious, too, Liv," Elliot assured her. "I want Casey back just as much as you do. I'm still trying to figure out how this could have happened." He drew in a deep breath and encouraged Olivia to do the same. After she did, he continued. "Ok, even if this was a random attack, the perp had to have seen her. Since he was able to capture her, he's obviously not an amateur. I doubt he actually got her from here."

Olivia nodded. She walked over to the door and started walking to Casey's car. "She's a pretty easy target for people walking alone this street, but it couldn't have been someone walking. She would have been able to fight them off."

"Unless there was more than one," Elliot interrupted. "Humor me for a moment and say it is a walker and someone else," he said. He started walking down the street away from the store. Olivia walked back to the store entrance. Elliot started walking closer towards her. "He approaches her, starts talking to her, and somehow leads her away."

"To the alley," Olivia said as she rushed towards the alley next to the grocery store. She frowned. "How could he have led her to the alley? She's not stupid, Elliot."

Elliot shook his head. "I honestly don't know, Liv," he said. "Of anyone, I wouldn't think this would happen to her."

* * *

5: 56 P.M.

Casey knew it was almost time for him to come home. She could just tell. The sun had already set. He was normally home a little after that happened. She was still imprisoned here. There was still little food. She was afraid to eat or drink anything he offered her. The food was already opened whenever he gave it to her. The same went for the water bottles he had. They didn't even have labels.

She heard the front door opening. She prayed that it would be the police, but she knew that was impossible. There was no way anyone could know she was there. Within seconds, she heard the door slam shut. She heard the locks on the front door being locked. She truly was trapped in this house. She heard him walking around until he opened the door to the basement. Within seconds, he would call her.

"Precious, where are you?" he called as he opened the door. "I got a present for you," he added as his boots hit the stairs.

"I don't want a present," Casey argued. She was trying her best to be tough in front of this guy. He did not own her. He did not control her. She was her own person. She just needed more time to figure a way out of here.

All lies. She could put on that appearance in front of him. Maybe if she kept it up long enough, he would let her go. However, she had to face the reality of the situation. This basement only had one door. It was locked unless he was down there with her. The window was too high for her to reach. It was probably bolted shut, too. She had to face it. She would not be getting out of there.

"But I had my secretary help me with it," he said. He walked over and grabbed her from behind. Casey knew resisting would be futile. He dragged her over to the other side of the room where the couch was. He turned the lights on and produced a small bag. The label said that the bag was from Victoria's Secret. Casey swallowed. She did not want him to open it.

"Spring sales," the man stated. "I don't know why stores like to advertise this early, but I'm glad they do," he said as he opened the bag. He pulled out a small string bikini-looking top. It was dark red in color. It had laces, too. It wasn't a bikini, Casey realized as she fought the urge to groan and curse.

The man just stared at her as he sat back on the couch. "Well, what are you waiting for, Precious?" he asked. "Put it on."

Casey's mouth dropped open in shock. "Here?" she asked. "In front of you? Who are you kidding?"

He smiled sweetly at her. "Come on, lover girl," he said. "If you won't cooperate, I can make you cooperate." He reached into the bag again and tossed her the matching thong. He then handed her a mini-skirt that would probably come seven inches below her waist if that.

He was serious. Casey could tell. He was staring intently at her. She remained petrified in fear of what he was going to do. He glared at her as he pushed himself off the couch. He lunged towards her before she realized that he seriously would rip her clothes off of her.

Tears filled in her eyes as she slowly started undressing.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

February 13, 2006

9: 17 A.M.

Olivia was frustrated. It had been almost a week since Casey was kidnapped, and they still had nothing. They had no leads or anything. It was almost as if Casey was never there. Branch had already sent Jessica Rossi to the Special Victims Unit to help with their other cases. Olivia was hostile towards her. She did not like Jessica. She did not want to admit that they had to break in another ADA. It took her a long time before she warmed up to Casey. Now she did consider Casey one of her best friends. In spite of that, or maybe because of that, she did not want to get that close to Jessica. She would not want it to come to that.

Elliot groaned. Cragen had told them to stop focusing only on Casey. This was the sixth day since they realized she was gone. They were not going to get anywhere without help anyway. There were other victims in the city.

"Elliot?" Olivia asked as she looked up from her computer. She had been dozing off, but now she focused on her partner.

"Hmm?" he asked her.

"How likely is it that we're going to find Casey alive?" she asked. It was the question looming on everyone's mind since the previous day. No one had wanted to ask it, but everyone was thinking it.

Elliot shrugged. "I honestly don't know, Olivia," he said. He jumped up and walked over towards the fax machine. Something was coming in. A photograph.

He winced and gasped at the sight of it. How could people find this attractive? "Well, we know she's alive," he stated as the photograph finished coming through. He walked towards the center of the squad room where he was joined by Olivia, Munch, and Fin.

The photograph itself was appalling. Casey's hair was tied up sloppily in an attempt to look attractive. At least, that's what Elliot thought. He could not know for sure. He could tell that she had not had anything to eat. She looked lighter in the picture. She was now tied up to a wall by the ankles. She could not go anywhere. She was still dressed in the bra and miniskirt. Elliot thought he could see parts of her ribs sticking out. He definitely saw her hips. He felt sorry for her.

"Liv?" Fin asked. "You know Casey best," he stated. "Since when did she have a belly ring?"

Olivia shook her head. "She-she doesn't," she said. Their eyes all went to Casey's stomach.

"That son of a bitch," Munch exclaimed as he pulled away. He grabbed the picture from Elliot and placed it face down on Elliot's desk. "This is just sick. We shouldn't be looking at it."

Olivia nodded. "Send it to Morales," she said. "See if he can get anything technical from it, such as which fax machine sent it." Beyond that, she did not want to know. She just wanted to get to Casey. She wanted to ensure Casey's safe return. She hated this man for what he was doing to her.

* * *

6:06 P.M. 

Casey shivered again. She had lost track of how long she had been there. It could have been a week. It could have been more. She honestly could not tell anymore. He was still there. He was on the couch. For the first time since he kidnapped her, he was asleep. With her chains, she knew she was not getting out of there alive. She had accepted that a few days ago.

However, she did not want him doing anything. To her knowledge, he had not yet raped her. She knew that she was conscious for most of the time when he was there. In that time, he did not force himself on her. He should not get the satisfaction of killing her. She knew she was not getting out. She'd rather kill herself than let him do it.

She cautiously reached for his beer bottle. It was near empty. She looked at it carefully. She knew she had one chance to hit it against something to break it. Any thing more, and he would hear it and wake up. She found the best spot and hit the bottle hard against the floor.

She winced in preparation. She then brought the edge of the bottle towards her arm and made one quick cutting motion on her skin down her left arm. "Shit," she reacted involuntarily. She had not expected it to hurt that much. She did not do anything further.

However, her exclamation of pain was enough to awaken him. His nostrils flared at her. "Just what do you think you're doing?" he asked her angrily. "You're not leaving before the big day." He stood up from the couch. Several half-eaten potato chips fell to the floor. Casey eyed them with disgust. She had not eaten since she was kidnapped. Of course she was hungry, but she would never be that desperate. "Stupid bitch," he muttered as he walked upstairs. He came back down a minute or two later with some bandages, a towel, and a piece of paper. First, he used the paper to wipe off Casey's blood. Then he wrapped the towel around her wound and applied some pressure to stop the bleeding. Once it had slowed down, he started applying her bandages.

He smiled at the rest of her figure. "You're almost ready, kitten. You wanna sleep with me?"

* * *

10:21 P.M. 

Cragen was the last one to leave that night. All of the other detectives' desks were clean. The room as dark. He turned off the main lights and was about to leave when something caught his eye. A piece of paper was taped to the main doors leading into the squad room. He opened the doors and pulled it down. It had the same picture of Casey, only it was smaller. There was blood on it. Then there were two words written with a large black permanent marker: Too Late.

* * *

February 14, 2006. 

The headline of _The New York Ledger _read: Missing ADA Believed Dead.

* * *

((Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. This was orginally going to be spread out over a couple chapters, but then I thought it would be too dry and redundant. Now that I have this posted, I know where I'm going, and I'm excited about it. Gosh, I'm cruel. I need to stop being cruel to Dick's characters and my readers...))  



	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

February 14, 2006

8: 13 A.M.

Olivia sat there in silence. Her mind was not focused on the case file in front of her. The only case on her mind was Casey's. Most specifically, the message that was on the door dominated her thoughts. Was it really true, or was it just a trick to throw them off track? For Casey's sake, she hoped it was the latter, but she highly doubted it. She did not know what to think anymore. The only thing she was certain of was that she wanted this man dead. She did not care who he was. She wanted him dead.

The rest of the squad room was equally as quiet and confused. No one dared to say anything. Cragen had tried a few encouraging words, but it was useless. Nothing would help. Now he was tied up on the phone with a lot of people calling about this case. He was sure the D.A.'s office was also inundated with phone calls. The press was calling to verify the story, the citizens were calling in fear that this man was still out there. No one was calling with actual evidence.

Elliot stormed into the squad room and plopped the message back onto his desk. "Warner confirmed it," he stated angrily. "The blood belongs to Casey. It's arterial, too."

"The bastard," Munch exclaimed. He did not know what else to say.

The forensic tech Morales entered the doors cautiously. "It's not the best news, but I do have something for you," he offered as he walked to Olivia's desk. It was the closest one to the doors. He placed the original fax on her desk. "All I can tell you about this is that this was sent from a Kinkos near where they found Casey's car. From that we can gather that he lives in the area."

Elliot groaned. "Thousands of people live in that area," he stated.

Morales placed another picture down on Olivia's desk. "I've enlarged the area around Casey's stomach," he told them. "Whoever gave her the belly ring is a professional. That's something."

Olivia nodded. "Thank you," she told him. It was something to go on. After almost a week of nothing, this was nice. Hopefully it would be enough to find the guy or get close to finding him.

* * *

5: 16 P.M.

He came home early that night. He was too excited to stay at work. Tonight was the big night. He could not wait. He rushed inside and down the stairs towards his kitten. He loved her. She was not fat anymore. "Kitten," he called her.

Casey heard him. She heard everything he did. She groaned at the sound of his voice. He kept the lights off. She could tell that he was getting closer to her, but she could not tell how close exactly. She smelled the alcohol on his breath. Before she knew it, he grabbed her from the waist. "Ready, kitten?" he asked her as he started kissing her neck. She tried to get away, but his grip was too strong. "You're almost a cat," he whispered into her ear. Casey rolled his eyes.

Kitten was scared of finding her true identity, he realized. He would have to help her. Kitten would have to be free to find herself. He untied her and held her close to him. Kitten was trying to escape. She made it out of his grip for a couple seconds, but he grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her back towards him. "You're a cutie, kitten," he told her. "But you have to practice before you're ready for the real world."

Casey was getting angry with him. She hated how much stronger he was than her.

"You want to sleep with me, kitten?" he asked her.

"No," Casey said firmly.

He smiled at her. Kitten wanted to play hard to get. He could easily fix that. He grabbed her waist and rolled her onto the floor. He climbed on top of her. "Now do you want to sleep with me, kitten?"

"No," Casey declared adamantly. She tried to push him off, but that would be near useless.

He groaned as he grabbed her wrists. "Silly kitten," he stated. "You don't need to be afraid. I'll teach you everything you need to know. Do you want to sleep with me now, kitten?"

Casey shook her head at him. "Do you know what the definition of crazy is? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," she spat in his face. "Now let me go."

He stood up and offered his hand to Casey. When she would not accept it, he bent down and pulled her up by her wrist. "I know what it is, kitten," he said. "You just haven't been fed. You can't perform on an empty stomach." He dragged her up the stairs. He kept his grip on her firm though so that she could not escape. He reached the fridge and pulled out a small unlabeled bottle of soda. He offered it to Casey, but she declined. He probably had it drugged.

"Water," she said firmly. "And I'd like to watch you pour it from tap," she added as she gestured at the sink.

He shook his head. "Tap water is filthy," he stated. "I know what you really want." He dragged her towards the back pantry. He pulled a bottle from a pile of similar bottles. Casey could not make out the label. It was too dark. He opened the bottle in front of her and then handed it to her. He glared at her. She could feel his eyes penetrating her skin. If she did not drink it, he's force her to. She took a couple of sips.

He waited until she had finished. Then he grabbed her and took her up towards his room. He said it was special. There were red sheets covering the windows. They looked stapled to the walls. He slammed her against the floor and crawled on top of her again. "You wanna sleep with me, kitten?" he asked.

He did not wait for an answer. He pulled her skirt off. He kicked his pants off then pulled off her underwear. He smiled. Kitten was such a good student.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

He was down there with her when Casey awoke the next morning. She did not have a clear picture in her mind of what had happened. All she knew was that she felt sick. Really sick. She tried to push herself off the floor. Chunks of hair were covering the floor. Blonde hair. She swallowed. Her hair.

She instantly ran her hands up to her head. She started running her fingers through her hair. It was shorter now. As she pulled some of it towards the side, she realized it was also not blonde anymore. Instead, it was a light shade of brown. That bastard, she thought.

"Good, you're awake, Kitten," he spat at her. He tossed her a long but thin coat. "Put that on," he commanded her.

Casey remembered how serious he was about things like this. She wrapped the coat around her thin body. It came down to almost her ankles. It was not very warm though. The fabric was thin. "Why?" she rasped.

"We're going out to get some catnip for you," he answered. "Now come on," he commanded again. He tossed down a matching hat, which Casey put on. She had a feeling she knew what he was talking about this time. He needed the morning after pill for her. She did not care what would happen. She would be out.

She groaned again as she clutched her stomach. She felt too nacreous to leave, but she would have to suck it up. If she had any chance of ever escaping this bastard, she would have to do as he said.

He drove too fast. That was Casey's only complaint. She never said anything aloud, but it was true. The second they pulled up to the pharmacy, Casey tried to dash out of the car. He stopped her. He grabbed her arm tightly. "You're staying with me, Kitten," he said harshly.

Casey shook her head. "You're sick, you know that," she spat at him. "And let me go, or I'm going to get sick all over you."

He groaned at her, but he knew she was serious. His Kitten was getting an attitude. She really was growing up. He dragged her through the store and let her go in the woman's bathroom. "Hurry," he commanded her. If it were not for the other customer staring at them, he would have followed her in there.

Casey locked the bathroom door. She immediately threw up. Then she realized that she was alone. For the first time since her kidnapping, she was safe. She did not know how long it would last, but she was momentarily safe. She had to get a message to the SVU. There was nothing to write with. Water could fade before anyone read it. No one had left a purse in there, so pens were out of the question. She dug through the pockets of the coat she was wearing. Nothing except for a Band-Aid.

A small smile formed on her mouth. That was it. She had to move quickly. She unwrapped the bandage around her arm. It was not going to be easy, but she had to do it. She scraped her fingernails across the wound until it started to bleed a little. She quickly started using her blood as something to write with. Against the pink wallpaper, it was faint. However, it was there. Someone had to see it eventually.

She heard a pounding at the door. "Kitten!" the voice boomed through it. She could not write anything else. She quickly rewrapped her bandage. It was not as tight as it had been previously, but that did not matter. As long as she was wearing that coat, he would not be able to tell. She did not want to open the door. She could just stay there. Eventually, he would have to leave. Then she would be free. It was his fault for taking her with him.

Sure enough, she heard footsteps leaving from the other side of the door. She opened it slowly. He was not in sight. She cautiously closed the door. She should stay there just a little longer to be on the safe side. As she started heading back into the bathroom, he lunged at her. He came from around the corner. She was unconscious in a second. He picked her up in his arms and carried her calmly through the store. At the employees' awkward glances, he said, "My wife. She likes to be tough, but clearly this flu is not something to be taken lightly. I'm getting her to a hospital." With that, he left.

The first employee winced. "If she's got some sort of flu, I wonder what that bathroom's like," he muttered.

"Well, you're the newer one of us, so you get to check," the other one teased.

The first one grumbled as he walked towards the bathroom. It did not smell that bad. The toilet had been flushed. He shrugged as he went to wash his hands. Then he looked in the mirror and noticed something on the wall behind him. He turned around slowly. The first thing he noticed was that it was written in blood. He screamed, thus drawing in the attention of the other employee. "Erica!" he yelled again before she entered.

"What is it now, Fredrick?" Erica asked in an annoyed tone.

Frederick pointed at the wall. The message on it was faint, but it read: Help. Call Man. SVU. CN.

Erica frowned. "How long has that been there?" she asked.

Frederick shrugged. "Wasn't there before they got in." He pulled out his cell phone. "Who are we supposed to call?"

"Manhattan Special Victims Unit, I'm guessing," she responded. She started walking towards the front of the store where the phone book was. She then gasped as she turned back to Frederick. "What were those initials?" she asked him.

"CN," he responded. He did not know what it meant. "Does that mean anything?"

"Maybe," Erica said as she rushed towards the recycling. The store carried a lot of newspapers. The ones that were not sold were in the recycling. She dug through it until she found the _Ledger_ from the previous day. She scanned the article on the front page. "Yes, it does mean something," she said. "CN. Casey Novak," she informed him. "The ADA from all those articles in the _Ledger._"

He picked up the store's phone. "What's the number we're supposed to call with information?" he asked as he had his fingers arched over the numbers on the phone.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Again, I apologize for the delay. Even after we took the A.P. test, we still had a project. On the plus side, after the weekend, I will be done with all school stuff until the end of August (or middle if you count cramming to do all my summer work, lol). For real. This weekend. (Although for what it's worth, a month is not that long to go without updating. I've certainly had longer gaps.)

* * *

Chapter Seven

After receiving the phone call from the pharmacy, it only took Olivia and Elliot about ten minutes to get over there. It was a record for them. The pharmacy was almost directly across from the supermarket where Casey had originally been kidnapped. Olivia was positive that her kidnapper was in the area. She did not know how much longer that would last. Elliot did not even take the key out of the ignition before Olivia had dashed out of the car and into the pharmacy.

"Frederick?" Olivia asked, out of breath, as she made her way towards the check-out counter. The first employee raised his hand. Olivia gave him a small yet grateful smile as she saw Elliot approaching them as well. Olivia pulled a small picture from her pocket. A photograph of Casey from before she was kidnapped. Casey looked strong in that picture. Olivia placed the photograph on the counter and slid it towards the two employees. "Have either of you seen this woman?" she asked.

Erica, the female employee, picked it up to study it more closely. "Maybe," she said. "I guess it could be her," she said.

"You guess?" Elliot asked. He was trying to remain professional about this, for both Casey's sake and Olivia's. "What does that mean?"

"The woman who was in here before we found that message was brunette. Sloppy dye job, so I guess it could be the same woman. I can't guarantee it," Erica informed Elliot. She bent down for a second. When she came back up, she produced the security tape from earlier that morning. "Figured you'd want to see this," she said. "It's cued to about five minutes before things get suspicious."

"Suspicious how?" Olivia asked as she regained her focus. She still could not believe that Casey was here. At least now she knew that Casey was alive. Someone had seen her less than an hour ago.

Erica shrugged as she figured out how to best word her answer. She knew how precise she would have to be. "Well, the woman went straight to the bathroom. The man went directly towards his aisle. He knew exactly what he wanted, and he knew exactly how much to pay for it. Then he walked towards the bathroom and started calling for her to come out. It was scary. If this woman is Ms. Novak, then I don't know how she had the courage to come back out and face him. And once they came back into the store, she was unconscious. He tried to say that she had the flu, but I didn't buy it. I heard signs of a struggle."

Elliot reached down and took a hold of Olivia's hand. He knew how close Olivia and Casey were. This news had to be difficult for Olivia to take in. It would be difficult on all of them. He had to do something to assure Olivia things would be fine. "We're close, Liv," he said soothingly. "I'll run this down to the lab to see if they can enlarge the photo of Casey. You stay with CSU and figure out what exactly happened here." He thanked the two employees and headed for the door. "It'll be ok, Olivia. Casey's strong."

Olivia nodded slightly as she watched him leave. She desperately wanted to believe him, but she was finding it harder to do so. It had been eight days since Casey was kidnapped. Even if the person on the security tape was Casey, Olivia did not know how high the chances were that they would get to her in time.

"I'll show you to the bathroom," Frederick offered as he stepped out from behind the counter.

* * *

"You have to give me something," Elliot said as he leaned over the computer screen. The security camera from the pharmacy was displayed on the monitor. It was Elliot's third time watching the tape, but he could not point out anyone who looked like Casey. He could see a female figure walking in, but she was to fast. Like the employee said, she headed straight for the bathroom. Her face was blocked from the camera. It remained blocked when she was carried out. "Slow motion, anything," he begged Morales.

Morales nodded and hit a couple of buttons. The video was going half as fast as it had previously been going. With another click of the mouse, it was one fourth as fast. "There," Elliot yelled as he pointed at the screen. Morales paused it. The video was from just before the door opened. It was hard to tell, but the woman's face was visible. "Zoom in on that," Elliot said as he pointed at her face.

There it was. Casey's face was thinner, as was the rest of her body, but Elliot knew it was her. She had the same bone structure, the same nose. It was definitely her. Her hair was sloppily cut to about her chin and dyed a shade of slightly lighter than Olivia's. From the poor quality of the video camera it was hard to be certain, but there was something off about her eyes. Elliot could only hope that it was only exhaustion and fear rather than physical abuse.

"Woah," Morales commented in shock as he started printing the picture. "He really did a number on her. I barely recognize her." He handed the first print-out to Elliot. "I want this guy in jail for the rest of his life."

Elliot nodded as he averted his eyes from the computer monitor. "We all do," he said softly. "Just put the rest of the copies on my desk," he instructed Morales. "I'm going to talk to Cragen. See how he wants to handle this."

Olivia was already in Cragen's office by the time Elliot arrived there. She turned abruptly to face her partner when she heard him enter. "Elliot," she gasped. "What took you so long?"

"Hard time getting a clear picture of her face," Elliot explained as he placed his first copy of the picture on Cragen's desk.

"Are we sure it's Casey?" Cragen asked as he picked up the picture. He did not want to do anything before he had confirmation.

Elliot nodded. "Definitely," he said. "She's been through hell, but that woman is Casey." He glanced up at the clock. It was almost two thirty in the afternoon. The video was timed at about ten when Casey was in the pharmacy. "And I don't mean to be pushy, but we're wasting time. For every minute we're not out there looking for her, he could be getting her away from the city." He did not want to even mention the fact that he could very well have killed her already. He did not have to. He knew everyone was thinking it.

"She's alive until we know otherwise," Cragen stated seriously. He picked up the picture and studied it closely. "Do we have more copies of this?" he asked Elliot.

"Morales put them on my desk," Elliot confirmed.

"What are we going to do with them?" Olivia asked. "Assuming he hasn't killed her, he definitely will if he sees her picture on television. We can't take that risk."

Cragen had considered that point. He honestly was torn on the issue. Olivia offered his fear of releasing the picture to the local news station's. However, by not releasing it, they would never know if someone saw her. They would risk not knowing where her kidnapper was headed. He exhaled deeply. "Where is the pharmacy in relation to the store where she was first kidnapped?" he asked.

"Within a one-mile radius," Olivia answered. "The perp had to live nearby."

Cragen nodded. "Ok," he said calmly. "Take the pictures with you and canvas the area. If Casey was out this morning, someone had to have seen her. If nothing pans out, we'll release the picture for the late night news."

* * *

Elliot sighed heavily after thanking one citizen for their help anyway. He and Olivia had been searching the area for nearly three hours to no avail. He shook his head sorrowfully at Olivia. "I'm sorry," he said as the two of them started walking towards the exit of one of the apartment buildings. He stopped suddenly as he thought he heard footsteps coming towards them. He turned around and noticed that someone was definitely trying to catch them.

"Detectives," the girl called. She was young. Elliot placed her age at no older than sixteen. She had one of the pictures in her hands. Once she caught up with the two of them, she was out of breath. She held up one finger to signal that she had information for them.

Olivia nodded and guided her over towards the chairs in the lobby. Elliot got a small paper cup and filled it with water from one of the dispensers. He offered it to the girl, and she eagerly accepted it.

"Are you the detectives who were handing these out?" the girl asked as she held up the flyer. It had Casey's picture on it along with the number for the SVU. It said that the woman in the photograph was missing, but it never mentioned Casey by name.

"Yes," Olivia said as she reached into her coat pockets for a small notebook. "And you are?"

"Madison," the girl said. "Madison Rivers."

Olivia gave Madison a small but warm smile. "Hi, Madison. I'm Olivia," she introduced in a gentle, non-threatening tone. "And this is my partner, Elliot. Did you see this woman?"

Madison's eyes darted around the lobby. After making sure that no one else was in hearing range, she answered. "Please don't tell my parents," she started. "I would have said something when you were at our apartment, but I didn't want them to know."

"Know what?" Olivia asked. She glanced up at Elliot, who immediately understood. He excused himself and stepped further away to call Cragen. "It's ok," Olivia assured Madison.

Madison's lower body was shaking. She took a couple breaths to calm herself. Olivia wanted to be patient. This girl probably had seen Casey. She could be their first real break in the case. "Did you see this woman?" Olivia repeated gently.

Madison nodded. "Yeah, I saw her," she whispered. "Only she looks a lot better in the picture," Madison added.

"Better?" Olivia questioned.

Madison nodded again. "When I saw her, she was unconscious," she said. "This guy was carrying her out of the CVS down the street. I don't know if he saw me, but I definitely saw him. He looked really scary."

"Do you think you could describe him to a sketch artist?" Olivia asked.

Madison's face instantly reverted back to one of fear. "No!" she exclaimed. "I can't. If I do that, my parents will know where I was this morning. They can't know. I was supposed to be at school. They'd kill me. Please," she begged. "Don't bring me into this. I'll tell you anything else you need to know- just don't make it official."

Olivia frowned slightly. She was tempted to ask where this girl actually was this morning, but she knew better than that. As long as she got enough information, she could hopefully let it go. Police used confidential informants all the time, and she was desperate. "What do you know?" she asked.

"This guy came out of the pharmacy," Madison started. "He was looking all around the street, and he had a woman in his arms. She looked bad. Then he ran over to this dark sedan. I'm kind of surprised he didn't trip on the ice with how fast he was going." She took in a breath. "He opened the back door and kind of dropped her in there. Then he got in the driver's side and sped off."

"In which direction?" Olivia asked.

Madison looked out the window. A minute later, she pointed to her right.

"Did you happen to catch his license plate?" Olivia asked, pen in hand.

With her eyes wide open, Madison nodded. "It was one of those personalized ones," she said as she leaned in closer towards Olivia. She could not believe she was actually about to repeat it, but she had to. She whispered it to in Olivia's ear. "No one forgets a plate like that." She then stood up. "That's all I know, Detective," she said. "Can you leave me out of the investigation?"

"I'm not making any promises," Olivia said. "However, I think you told us what we need to hear. I can always contact you again if we need something else." She handed her notepad to Madison and asked for her name and phone number. Madison reluctantly gave it to Olivia after Olivia promised that the chances were small of them actually using it.

Olivia sighed with relief as she walked over to Elliot. "We have to hurry," she said. "According to our only witness, Casey is in the backseat of this guy's car. He sped off, and we don't know where he's headed."

Elliot nodded. "I'll have Cragen put an Amber alert out for the car and find his name through the DMV. On the rare chance that he is at home, we can arrest him."

* * *

He kept driving. He did not really have a clear destination in mind. Now that his Kitten was growing up, she had to be introduced to other parts of the world. He would be there to guide her for as long as he could, but eventually she would have to take care of herself. After all, Daddy could not always look after his little girl. He glanced back at Kitten through the rear view mirror. She was still fast asleep. It was cute, really. He smiled as he turned on the radio. It was all talk.

He frowned. His license plate was being read over the radio. "Buckle up, Kitten," he said as he started looking for the quickest route out of the city. "We're going on an adventure."

* * *

((Author's Note: Again, sorry for the delay. It won't be much longer until I get the next chapter up...And I would have had a clear license plate for the rapist, but anything I could think of was either too nasty to be on a plate or just nasty enough that someone in New York probably has it...Sigh.))  



	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

It was a townhouse. A small, ordinary looking townhouse. Elliot swore he must have passed through a million of them in his search for a place to live after his divorce. He actually considered living in this area for a second since the rent was not as high as the rest of the city. It did not look the home of a rapist who was this creepy. He banged on the door. "Police, open up!" he yelled.

Olivia shook her head. "Elliot, he's not in there," she whispered. A tear formed in the corner of her eye. This was too much. They did not get there in time. For the first time since Casey had been abducted, Olivia really felt she was dead. There was no way they could get to her in time. She did not want to believe that her best friend was gone.

Elliot glanced over at Olivia. In that single glance, he knew exactly what was going through her head. "Olivia, no," he told her. "Don't go there."

"Why?" Olivia asked as she grabbed the keys to the police car from Elliot's hands. "We're too late. We screwed up. I might as well start getting used to the fact…to the fact…" She couldn't say it. She could believe it was real. She had the sinking feeling in her gut telling her that Casey was dead, but she could not say it.

Elliot turned the handle to the townhouse. It opened right immediately. He drew his gun and stepped inside. "Hello?" he called. He silently ventured further into the house as if he was late to Church and was trying to slip inside unnoticed.

It looked too normal. There was a small kitchen table, two counters, a sink, and a fridge in his kitchen. The linoleum tiles on the floor were normal. The carpet in the next room with the TV in it. It looked like his house. He could see himself trying to live here.

Then he saw the basement door. He turned to Olivia, and they exchanged a nod. If there was any evidence as to Casey's stay in this townhouse, then it would be in the basement. Elliot turned the handle, but it did not open. It was bolted shut. He tried pushing against it with all his weight, but that still did not get him anywhere. He turned back to Olivia.

"CASEY!" Olivia yelled through the door. "Casey, are you down there?" Thoughts raced through her mind. Adrenaline filled her body. Although she heard no response from downstairs, she had to make sure. If this guy was sick enough to do everything else to Casey, then she bet he would have no problems with skipping town and leaving her in the basement to die of dehydration. She rushed over towards the kitchen and grabbed one of the chairs. She started banging on the door with the chair.

Elliot quickly caught on, and he grabbed another chair. After a couple minutes of the two of them hitting against the door, it fell open. Traces of wood fell down the stairs. Olivia pushed past Elliot and dashed down towards the bottom. "Casey Novak!" she called. She turned on the light and looked into the room.

Nothing. Except for the her and Elliot, there were no people down there. However, this definitely was their crime scene. She could tell. The strong stench of beer lingered in the room. She could see several empty bottles lying on the floor. She shivered. It was like she was a little girl all over again. A cold, empty house with nothing but empty beer bottles.

She walked closer towards the couch. Chunks of blonde hair the exact shade as Casey's covered the bottom half of the couch. She could see blood on the floor near the couch next to the chains from the picture. She knew it was Casey's. "Call CSU," she whispered.

* * *

Route 55. His driving had dumped him out onto this road. He was not following a set path. He had no idea where he would be going next. He needed a new Kitten. This one was too feisty for him. At first, he had thought it was cute. Now it was just too damn annoying. He did not like this Kitten. She did not abide by the rules.

But where to get a new Kitten? This Kitten had friends, and sadly, this Kitten's friends were getting smarter. They were looking for their little pet. Announcements were persistently being made over the radio. An Amber alert for his car. He needed to get rid of it quickly. He gave a sigh of relief. He was getting close to Poughkeepsie. It had been forty-five minutes since he had heard a message about him. He was finally far enough to avoid being turned in. Of course, it would probably be on almost every New York late night news report, but he would have plenty of time to ditch this car by then.

He chuckled again. He was getting ahead of himself. Before he could do anything, he would have to release Kitten into the wild. She belonged there. He pulled over to the side of the road. Trees surrounded him. This was a perfect place. There was plenty of snow on the ground. In his excitement over Kitten, he had forgotten about that snow storm. A lot of snow covered the Mid-Atlantic.

He chuckled as he exited his car. There was no one else on the road. He was in the middle of no where in the snow. No one would want to adopt a Kitten when they could be home in front of their nice warm fireplaces. He gave a sinister laugh as he opened the backseat door. His Kitten was still asleep. He picked her up gently, placed a kiss on her forehead, then set her down in the snow. She did not move at all. He laughed again as he rushed back to his car. He got inside and sped off. Perfect.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

February 16, 2006

12: 38 A.M.

"Would the two of you please sit down and buckle your seatbelts?" Audrey Stone screamed as she turned her head around so that she was facing her two son and daughter, aged seven and five respectively. This was supposed to be a simple trip. Her husband's sister had passed away on Monday. The arrangements for the funeral were made in his hometown, which was some place vaguely near Poughkeepsie. Personally, she was a city girl, so she could never keep the various New York country townships straight.

However, the snow was still on the road. It was late, so it was also cold outside. Her husband had assured her that the roads were plowed, but she could not be certain. Of course, there was the added stress due to her children remaining awake. She thought for sure they would be asleep by now. It was over a seven hour drive from Annapolis. Yet, they were still awake. And still fighting. Constantly.

"Alright, Drew, if you don't stop teasing your sister this very moment, I'm going to pull this car over, and you are going to walk to Grandma's," her husband John threatened. The yelling did not stop, so as promised John started pulling the car off to the side of the road. He simply put the car into park and turned his head to face his children. "Do you have anything to say?" he asked.

The boy, Drew, shook his head vigorously back and forth. "We'll be good," he promised as he buckled his seat belt.

"Good," John said as he turned back around and put the car back into drive.

"John," Audrey started in a slightly scared tone. Her eyes were focused solely on what was directly in front of their minivan. It looked like a woman. Yes, it definitely was a woman. A very thin one at that. From the way she was dressed, Audrey had assumed she had been dumped there and it was not a suicide attempt. She finally reacted enough to tell her kids to look away.

"Why?" Drew asked as he eagerly craned his head forward to see what was happening. "Cool, is she a hooker?" he asked.

"And where did you learn that word?" Audrey asked in exclamation as she reverted her focus back to her children.

John, equally shocked at everything, shook his head. "Not the time, Audrey," he said as he put the van back into park, opened the driver's side, and rushed towards the female's body. He picked up her left wrist gently to feel for a pulse. He frowned slightly as he moved his fingers towards her neck.

Audrey quickly followed her husband out of the car. She knelt down on the other side of the woman's body and picked up her right wrist. "John, she's freezing," she whispered.

"But she's alive," John replied as he finally found a pulse. It was faint, but the woman did have one. "Call an ambulance."

Audrey shook her head as she rushed back to the van. She quickly opened the side door and started moving everything off of the two middle seats. "We're in the middle of nowhere," she exclaimed. "It'd be faster if we took her in."

John nodded as he carefully picked up the woman. She was freakishly light. He rushed her over towards the van and carefully placed her down across the two middle seats. "Kids, give me your blankets," he commanded. His voice was stern, and his children did not ask any questions as they handed over their small but very warm blankets. John draped them over the woman's body before he rushed out of the van and back to the driver's side. Once he was back in the driver's seat, he put the car into drive and floored the accelerator. He had to get to the closest hospital or trauma center.

* * *

February 16, 2006

1:04 A.M.

"Nope," Kaleigh Gallagher said as she fought back a yawn. "I don't have any sixes. Go fish." It was her second year of residency at St. Luke's Hospital. She had learned during medical school that she hated the midnight shift. It was either too much chaos or barely any action. In her experience, the latter was more common.

"Kaleigh?" Daniel, the desk receptionist, responded in a slightly annoyed voice. "We're playing poker."

"Not anymore," Paul, one of the other second year residents, informed them as he rushed past the desk. He had a clipboard in his hand, and Kaleigh could hear the sounds of quickly paced footsteps pushing a gurney behind him. "Jane Doe is being brought in via vehicle. Someone just left her on the side of Route 55. Don't know how long she's been there."

Kaleigh nodded as she reached for her stethoscope. She followed Paul out to the ambulance bay and helped him transfer the patient from the middle of a teal minivan to the gurney. As soon as the patient was placed on the gurney, Kaleigh placed a couple of warm blankets on top of her thin body. She then escorted her inside while Paul talked to the family who had taken the patient to the hospital.

A nurse, Carla, joined Kaleigh and helped her roll the gurney inside the hospital. As they passed the desk, Daniel glanced over the desk to get a good look at the patient. Mainly, he just wanted to see if the woman was attractive. The blankets were covering her body, so he could not really tell. He shrugged and glanced away for a second. He paused before walking out from the desk slowly to get a closer look at the patient. "Can you remove the blankets for a second?" he asked.

"Christ, Daniel, the woman has hypothermia!" Kaleigh exclaimed. "She's unconscious, and I don't think she'd want you to see her let alone date you."

Daniel shook his head in annoyance. "This isn't about that," he hissed. "I think I know this woman. I mean, not personally, but I know I've seen her."

Kaleigh rolled her eyes as she retreated to the exam room to treat her patient. "Sure, Daniel, and Julie Andrews used to baby-sit me," she muttered sarcastically.

Daniel ignored her. He knew he had seen her. It might take him a little while to remember where, but he knew he was right about this. He shrugged and started digging underneath the desk for some old copy of the newspaper. Since he was stuck at the hospital until eight-thirty in the morning, he might as well catch up on the sports games he had missed while covering the midnight shift.

"No, not the Style section," he grumbled. "Not the front page, not the local page…" He stopped himself from flipping away from the local section of the paper. There she was. On the left hand column of the paper, there was a small photograph of the woman who had just been taken into the hospital. He knew he had recognized her. The late night news had an announcement about her. Apparently, she was a prosecutor back in New York City who had been kidnapped a little over a week ago. The police had recently found a lead and finally found out who kidnapped her. Of course, when they went to arrest the man, he was not home. He never thought she would be up here.

Now was not the time for that. He had to tell Kaleigh and Paul. The two of them had to be aware that they could be treating this patient for more than just hypothermia.

* * *

February 16, 2006 

3:52 A.M.

Olivia could not sleep. She was definitely tired, and she knew that she needed the rest in order to be productive later in the day. However, every time she closed her eyes, all she could picture was Casey in that basement. The pain and fear that must have been present throughout her friend. It sickened her, and all Olivia could think was that she failed Casey. She did not get there in time to save her from any of it.

She wanted to leave the squad room, but she was afraid of what would happen if she did. She could miss something important. She tried to shake it off, but she could not. It was too hard. She leaned over her desk slightly. Her arms folded across it and formed a makeshift pillow. Olivia felt her head going on top of her arms, but she could not control it. She was too exhausted.

Right before she was about to drift off, the phone rang. It startled her, but she was able to answer it. "Benson, sex crimes," she muttered. "Huh?" she asked a moment later.

"Is this the Manhattan Special Victims Unit?" the voice asked.

Olivia reverted to a sitting position in her chair. "Yes, this is Detective Olivia Benson," she said.

"Good," the voice interrupted. "I'm Daniel Moore, a desk receptionist at St. John's Hospital in Poughkeepsie. About three hors ago, a woman was brought in here. From her looks and the way she's dressed, we have reason to believe it's your ADA."

Olivia nearly choked on her saliva. She leaned over and pinched her arm to make sure she had not actually drifted off to sleep. No, she felt the pain, so this had to be real. "You found Casey?" she repeated. The shock had not yet worn off. She never thought this moment would happen. "How is she?" she immediately asked. "Is she—"

"She's alive, Detective," Daniel assured her. "Now I'm not a doctor, but they tell me that she's responding well to treatment. However, she still is unconscious."

"But she's alive?" Olivia repeated.

Daniel smiled. "Yes, she is."

Olivia's expression reverted to one of happiness. She could not believe it. Casey was alive. This had to be the best news she had heard in a long time. After she got the address of the hospital from Daniel, she thanked him, hung up, and proceeded to call Elliot.

He answered after two rings with a muffled, "Stabler."

"Elliot, it's me," Olivia told him. "They found her."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

February 16, 2006

5:28 A.M.

Elliot had driven up to the station to pick up Olivia as soon as he got off the phone with her. From there, they headed straight for the hospital, only making one wrong turn along the way. Elliot quickly parked the car and rushed inside with Olivia trailing close behind. The two of them showed their badges to the desk receptionist. Since it was a man, Olivia assumed it was the same one who had called the SVU, but she could not be certain.

Daniel simply nodded as he saw the badges. He knew right away who the detectives were. He buzzed the door leading out of the waiting room to let them in and motioned for Kaleigh to come over to see the detectives. "This is Kaleigh Gallagher," he introduced. "She's the resident working on Ms. Novak. Once we identified Ms. Novak, we decided it would be best to have only our female staff treating her."

Kaleigh nodded as she shook Olivia and Elliot's hands. "Follow me," she said. As she entered the room, she dismissed the nurse who had been staying with Casey.

"Is she awake yet?" Olivia asked cautiously. She was not sure which answer would be better.

Kaleigh shook her head. "We thought she was waking up about a half an hour ago, but she was just tossing in her sleep."

"Has she said anything?" Elliot asked as the three of them were slowing down outside the examination rooms.

"Nothing we could make sense out of," Kaleigh answered honestly. "At first, the nurse thought she was just having a bad dream, but she did keep repeating the same couple of words. Maybe it was part of the kidnapper's signature." She exhaled deeply as she twisted the cold metal door open slightly. "Something about teaching cats. No, wait, kittens. Teaching a kitten." She opened the door all the way and entered the room quietly. "Casey?" she called out softly. Her voice was loud enough so that she would get a response if her patient was awake, but soft enough so that she would not be the one to wake her. She tiptoed in and motioned for Elliot and Olivia to follow.

"How is she?" Olivia asked. Casey was asleep. For the most part, she looked safe now. Blankets covered her body, but for the most part, Olivia did not see any casts. The only physical injury she saw was a white bandage around her lower left arm.

Kaleigh reached over and took Casey's temperature. She knew it was technically a nurse's job, but she did not know if she could wait for one. "96.3 degrees," she read. As she recorded the temperature on Casey's chart, she gave a small smile. "Sadly, it's a big improvement over what her temperature was when she was brought in here."

"Why?" Elliot asked. "What happened to her?" He braced himself for hearing something awful, but somehow he thought that there was nothing worse that could be done to her.

"Couple who brought her in said they found her off the side of the road. They only pulled over to yell at their children, otherwise they probably would not have seen her," Kaleigh explained as she glanced back at Casey. "An hour later and she most likely would have been dead."

Olivia shivered slightly as she took another look at Casey. She could not believe all of this. She had to remind herself that the important thing was that Casey was found alive. She and Elliot were with her now. It would all be ok now. "So how is she?" she asked again.

"She's responding well to treatment," Kaleigh answered. "However, we're still only treating her for hypothermia. We've done blood work, but we're going to try to wait a little longer to see if she wakes up before we do a rape kit."

Elliot glanced down at Casey. "Any idea of when that would be?" he asked.

Kaleigh shrugged. "She does have a pretty severe concussion," she noted. "It could still take a couple of hours."

"And the bandage?" Olivia ventured cautiously. Obviously it was how the kidnapper got her blood for the paper he sent them, but she did not know how the wound got there.

"Long cut going down her forearm," Kaleigh stated. "Although it's long, it's also shallow, which to me makes it look self-inflicted. From its looks, I would guess that this cut occurred a couple days before everything else. All we did was clean the wound and update her tetanus."

Elliot could not help but notice how thin Casey was. He knew that she had lost a lot of weight during these past nine days, but he never realized how much. The guy must have starved Casey for her to look so thin. He knew that Casey was already slightly underweight, but in the hospital bed she just looked so emaciated. With her sloppy hair job and her way-too-thin weight, she looked homeless. "How much does she weigh?" he asked.

"Barely over 100 pounds," Kaleigh answered seriously. "Our guess is that she's been denied food for the entire time of her capture. Instead of trying to get her to eat when she wakes up, we're feeding her intravenously. I don't want her to accidentally eat too much for her body to handle."

At that moment, Casey started stirring again. As Kaleigh had mentioned, Casey was muttering about a kitten. This time, the kitten was scared.

Olivia and Elliot exchanged a glance before Olivia nodded and moved closer to the bed. She considered placing a reassuring hand on Casey's back, but she instantly decided against that. After all, she had no idea what Casey had been through. Instead, Olivia decided to hold Casey's hand. "It's ok, now," she said gently. "Casey, it's all ok. You're safe now," she whispered.

One small left eye opened slowly. Olivia did not know how to react. She was unsure if Casey was actually waking up. "Case?" she called again as she tightened her hold on Casey's hand.

Slowly, Casey's other eye opened. Casey blinked twice, then held her right hand out in front of her face as if shielding herself from the light.

Wait, Casey thought to herself. Light. Pain, yes, but there was light. This was not the basement. No one around her wanted her to be a student of love. No, there were faces. Two of them were familiar. "Olivia?" she asked in confusion.

"It's me," Olivia said. She refused to let herself cry, but there were tears forming in her eyes. Part of it was due to having to see her friend in this condition. The other part was relief that Casey was alive and awake. "You're safe, now."

Casey glanced around at her surroundings. How could this be true? These walls, her friends. She honestly thought she would never see them again. This was true, wasn't it? She was not just dreaming. She could not be imagining all of this. In addition to seeing Elliot and Olivia, she also saw a younger woman whom she did not recognize. Casey placed the woman's age at around her own, possibly a little younger. "W-where am I?" she rasped.

She was not used to the sound of her own voice. She wanted to break down in tears right there, but she forced herself to remain strong. Whatever happened was not good. Someone did this to her, and by crying she would be admitting defeat. She had to hold herself together. "What hospital?" she asked a moment later. Her confusion and memory loss was probably related to the fact that her head was killing her. Without a doubt, there would be questions such as where she was, what the date was, and who the president was.

"St. John's, in Poughkeepsie," Olivia responded gently. Her arm ventured out over towards Casey's shoulder in an attempt at comforting her friend. Since Casey was not hesitating, Olivia figured Casey was fine with the gesture. She carefully placed her hand down and rubbed Casey's shoulder.

Kaleigh nodded as she looked at Casey. "I have to ask," she started. "Do you remember anything at all?" She shook her head. "Let me rephrase. What is the last thing you do remember?"

Casey's fingers moved around until they were joined with Olivia's. In that moment, Olivia knew Casey had some recollection of the events leading up to this one. From how the resident had described her condition, obviously some of it was in her subconscious. "I'm here," Olivia whispered.

"It was dark," Casey started softly. Her voice was still hoarse, but that was most likely a result of the cold she got from being left outside for so long. Casey coughed a little to clear her throat before she continued. "No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't…couldn't…"

That was it. She could not keep up the appearance that she was fine. She knew what had happened to her in that basement. She remembered every last detail. She did not want to, but she knew everything. The temperature of the room, the clothes she had to wear, how he made her feel. She knew everything there was to know about him. It was hell for her. She broke down in tears and turned her body towards Olivia's.

"That's enough," Elliot told the resident sternly.

Kaleigh looked up at him in slight confusion. "Didn't you want a rape kit?" she whispered. With Casey's crying and Olivia's soothing whispers, it was nearly impossible for the ADA to have heard the question. Kaleigh looked expectantly at Elliot for a response.

Elliot shook his head. "I said that's enough. We'll get you after she's calmed down enough to go through with it." With that, he walked back over towards Olivia and Casey. He rubbed Casey's back gently to let her know that he was there for her. Neither he nor Olivia was about to leave her.

"You just let it all out, Casey," Olivia whispered into her friend's ear. "You've been through a lot. It's ok. You're safe now."


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. I know what I want to write, but I've been having a serious lack of motivation to finish everything.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

"Do you want some water?" Olivia asked gently as she once again sat down next to Casey. The hospital bed bent slightly at her motion. Olivia just kept looking over at Casey. The two of them had been alone in the hospital room or the past forty some minutes. During that time, Casey had stopped crying.

Her eyes were still red and puffy. Casey definitely looked upset, but Olivia knew that the ADA was not going to admit that she still was. Olivia was unaware if Casey even fully grasped the situation yet. Obviously, Casey was upset. However, her gaze remained distant. It was as if she was not focused on the reality in front of her. She was somewhere else entirely.

With each passing moment, Olivia was growing more uncomfortable. Ever since she had stopped crying, Casey was silent. It seemed as if she was afraid that if she dared to speak, she would start up again. The silence was eerie. Olivia finally dropped her hand down to Casey's and squeezed tightly. "I'm here," she whispered.

Casey nodded slightly. This was real. All of it was real. She just wanted to put it behind her. She did not know what information the detectives had on the guy who did this. Anything she said would probably not be very useful, but she never knew. She just knew standard procedure. She had been raped. She was now in a hospital bed hooked up to IV fluids. Olivia and Elliot were in the hospital with her. Well, Olivia was with her. Elliot was somewhere in the hospital, perhaps talking to the doctor. The next step they had to do was get a rape exam.

Why prolong the inevitable?

"I'm ready," Casey whispered as she finally looked up at Olivia. Looks of misery and depression covered her pale complexion.

Olivia's sympathy for her friend grew as she headed towards the door. "You sure?" she asked. After receiving a nod from Casey, Olivia opened the door. She extended her head into the hallway until she saw Elliot talking to Kaleigh. "She's ready," Olivia said softly. As soon as she heard the two of them following her back into the room, Olivia rushed back over to the bed where she once again took Casey's hand. "You're ok now, Casey," she whispered.

Casey nodded slightly at Olivia as she opened and spread her legs for the doctor. Casey could tell how uncomfortable Elliot felt from the way he was standing behind the doctor. It was supposed to be his duty to watch these procedures. He could not even count how many he had seen in his time working for the SVU, but this was different. This was not just a victim- it was one of his close friends. He respected her.

"It's ok, Elliot," Casey whispered. "I want you two handling this case. You're going to see it anyway." The shock had not yet worn off. Casey knew what had happened to her. She had seen- she had helped- women in her position. It was her job. This was still different. She knew that this was not a nightmare. She knew it was her reality. She just did not know what that meant. She should feel angry, betrayed, unsafe. She did. Her innocence was stolen from her, and she would never be getting it back. She was a different person now. She just did not know by how much. As the resident began the exam, a tear rolled down Casey's cheek again.

* * *

The whole exam took almost an hour. Vaginal bruising was all too apparent. During the exam, the results from Casey's blood work came back. Traces of rohypnol and GHB were still in her blood, so there was no way the perp could argue that it was consensual. Finally, the rape kit tested positive for fluids and semen. Provided that they could find this guy, convicting him would be a piece of cake. 

"How are you holding up?" Olivia asked as she sat down on the chair opposite the bed. Casey's head was rested across the pillow, and it looked like Casey was struggling to stay awake. She had remained quiet throughout the whole exam. Olivia had never seen her friend this quiet.

Casey gave a small shrug. "Just tired," she admitted as she repositioned the blankets on top of her body. She could feel her eyes growing heavy.

"Ok," Olivia said as she reached to turn the light over Casey's bed off.

Casey interrupted her with a quick "No" and a grasp of Casey's wrist. "Don't, please," she begged. "Leave it on."

"Ok," Olivia promised as she lowered her arm. She saw how frightened the thought of darkness, even just a little darkness, made Casey. She was not about to dishonor that. She had to respect Casey's wishes. "I'll leave it on. I promise," she stated.

Casey nodded slightly. Minutes later, she was asleep. Olivia heard Elliot coming up from behind her. "I called Huang," he stated. "He'll talk to her as soon as she's released."

Olivia nodded as she looked on to Casey. "Good," she said.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

February 16, 2006

10: 38 A.M.

Alex Cabot flashed her badge from the D.A.'s office to the security officer behind the desk. She smiled after they gave her a visitor sticker. After receiving directions to Casey's room, Alex quickly walked down there. She glanced through the window to make sure Casey was awake before she entered. She then gave a small knock to announce her presence. "Hey," she said warmly as she closed the door behind her.

"Damn, you're not a doctor," Casey said softly before she said a proper hello the woman who was technically her boss.

Alex shook her head as she sat down on the chair next to Olivia's. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

The look on Casey's face was one of exhaustion. Obviously, she was tired. Despite of how tired she was, she was not able to sleep for more than one hour at a time. The nightmares kept coming back. How weak she was against him. How powerless he made her feel. The things he did to her.

Being trapped in the hospital only made those feelings remain. She wanted the whole thing to be over. She wanted to return to her normal life. She had been gone for over a week. She had lost count around day five, but she knew that by now it had to have been over a week. There had to be a lot of cases for her. And, of course, the busier she was, the more focused she would be on things other than what he did to her. "I want to leave," she admitted as she looked up at Alex.

"Doctors want her on at least another day of IV treatments," Olivia explained.

Alex took one look at Casey's body and nodded. "Case, I know you hate it here, but the doctors are just doing what's best for you," she said gently. "And don't even worry about work right now. Take as long as you need to get back."

"I'd rather be at work than stuck in this office," Casey admitted. She hated hospitals. She always had. She needed to be focused on something else. She did not have the patience to stay around this place for another day.

Elliot entered the hospital room. He had a small bottle of orange juice held in his hand. He smiled and greeted Alex before he focused on Casey. "Here," he said as he handed her the bottle. "Careful though. Don't drink more than you can handle."

Casey nodded and thanked him. She tried to twist the top of the bottle. Her forehead wrinkled with frustration. It was a small eight ounce Tropicana bottle. She should be able to open it easily.

"Relax," Elliot said as he took the bottle back and opened it for her. "Casey, it's ok."

Casey rolled her eyes up at him. "Pfft," she stated. "I'm pathetic. I bet a six-year-old could open that thing." She then brought the juice up to her lips and took a small sip. The cool liquid felt so good in her mouth. She had not realized how much she missed it. Her anger about not being able to open the bottle was forgotten. This was too good.

Although the bottle was small, Casey did not finish it. A little bit was left when she placed the bottle down on the table next to her bed. "Look," she said as she faced Alex, Olivia, and Elliot. "I appreciate that you guys are all here, but stop. You all have lives, jobs. I just want to get back to a normal life, so I don't need you all here."

"Casey, honey, you are our latest victim," Olivia pointed out gently. "But if you're ready, you can start telling us what you remember."

Casey nodded again. She was ready for this. She drew in a deep breath before she started. "I remember going to some grocery store, I think. It was late." She paused for a moment as she flashed back to the day on which she had been kidnapped. She was trying to picture the car in which she was taken. She had seen it somewhere else. Somewhere before all of this. "He followed me," she gasped in realization. "I saw his car as I was leaving the D.A.'s office. He waved for me to go ahead in front of him just so he could follow me." She shook her head. "This was premeditated."

Casey quickly continued with her statement. She did not want anyone comforting her. By now, she was getting sick of it. She appreciated their concern, but she hated the tones they used when they talked to her. It was unnatural. "But I had gone to the store to get a couple things. Cereal, milk, and I think a TV Guide. H-he was out there when I left."

The words were not coming to Casey's mouth. Even if they were, she was having trouble pronouncing them. Recalling the experience put a stammer in her speech. She hated it. "H-he was really st-st-strong." By now, her eyes were getting wet again. "I felt so weak against him. He knocked me out almost right away. The next thing I knew, I was in some basement, I think. It was dark and cold. He had taken my jacket." Small tears rolled down her cheek.

Olivia reached over and took Casey's hand for emotional support. Casey nodded at her as a way of expressing her thanks. "Do you want me to call Huang?" she offered.

Casey shook her head no. "He can't understand. None of you could," she whispered.

"Understand what?" Alex asked.

Casey tried to wipe her eyes, but the action only caused more tears to flow. "I was a virgin."


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note: I am sorry for the delay. There was work, death, and summer homework. I know this is a kind of short chapter, but I couldn't put anything else in. (Well, I could, but it'd be filler crap...) Anyway, I have not forgotten you. I will try to update as soon as I cna, but I'm back in school now, with three AP courses, so it might take a week or two. I still love you, though. Still love me?

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

"You must think I'm weird," Casey admitted. Her voice was barely over a whisper, and she could not bring herself to look Huang in the face. "I'm a few months shy of being thirty, and I've never had sex with anyone until sometime in the past couple days. In this generation, you must think I'm deformed or something."

Huang shook his head at her. "Casey, there's nothing wrong with a woman's choice to remain a virgin," he assured her.

"It's not like I haven't had the opportunity," Casey continued. "I mean, I was engaged. We would talk about it, but we never ended up doing anything. After I broke up the engagement, I just never felt close enough to anyone else."

"I respect that," Huang stated. He repositioned himself at the end of her bed so that he would not fall off. "And you know that none of us look at you any differently."

Casey rolled her eyes. "That's a load of crap, and you know it," she accused him. "Sure, you can tell me that this wasn't my fault, that you all won't view me any differently, but you know it's not true. You will all be looking through pictures of my genital region. Warner is running tests on my blood to check for diseases. Elliot and Olivia are going to take my statement and track down my attacker. Provided that they find him, Alex Cabot is going to put me on the stand where I will have to tell a judge, defense counsel, and twelve jurors exactly what this man did to me." She shook her head. "There's no way you can see me as the same person. I'm not. I should be trying this man, not testifying against him."

"Casey…"

"Even you're doing it," Casey added. "The tone of your voice. You see me as a victim- admit it. That's why Olivia called you, isn't it?"

"Originally, yes," Huang admitted. "But I did it because I care about you. We all do. I'm not going to lie to you. We were surprised this happened to you of all people. And it is going to be awkward a little until the first month or so after the trial. There is nothing you can do to change that."

Casey nodded weakly. "Are there any other standard lines you're going to feed me?" she asked.

Huang chuckled. "Only if you're in the mood for hearing them." He did not wait for Casey to reply. He already knew what her answer was going to be. He rose from the bed and pat her shoulder lightly. "Take care."

Casey shrugged. "I'll try."

Huang smiled at her before he left. "You know I'm here for you," he told her. Once he was in the hallway, Olivia approached him. Before he could give Olivia the chance to ask him the question, he answered it: "She's going to be fine. She's still shaken up, and it's going to take time for her to get over this. Right now all she needs is support, no matter how many times she might try to deny it."

* * *

"Detectives," O'Halleran called as he walked down the stairs of the suspect's home. Fin and Munch, along with CSU, were going through the suspect's home for any other evidence that Olivia and Elliot might have missed. Everything from the basement was accounted for. Now CSU was spread through the rest of the house. O'Halleran had the master bedroom.

"Oh, he's making this too easy," Fin stated as he saw what O'Halleran had displayed on the television screen. On it was a picture of the rapist and Casey. Presumably it was from right before he raped her since Casey was still conscious. Thankfully, the tape was paused. Fin knew he could not bring himself to watch it.

"I don't see a camera," Munch pointed out as he scanned the bedroom. He glanced back up at the screen to try to figure out exactly which part of the room the angle was. Once determining it, he walked back to that angle, but the camera was hidden. Unless it was one of those hidden cameras… Munch shuttered. This guy was definitely sick.

"Any other wildly incriminating evidence?" Munch asked as he turned back around to face the other two detectives.

O'Halleran nodded. "In addition to the semen covered sheets, we found a bunch of newspaper articles and candid photos of Casey. He practically had every single article, even if it was only a small one where they just mention her name. He was definitely obsessed with her."

"There's no way for defense to argue it was just a coincidence that all of his articles mention Casey?" Fin asked.

"Not a chance," O'Halleran declared. "In the margin of one of them, he had scribbled out part of her schedule, plus the date on which she went missing. In the article the _Ledger_ printed about her believed death, he wrote 'Kitten's Big Day'. That has to mean something."


End file.
